Vehicle operated light switch



April 17, 1934. A. B. PARKER VEHICLE OPERATED LIGHT SWITCH Filed May 10,1932 Ema/Mm H. B. Purl/er Patented Apr. 17, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to means for operating light switches andparticularly to means whereby a light switch in a garage or in the yardof a garage may be automatically operated by a car driven over theoperating mechanism of the switch, the general object being to providemechanism of this character whereby a car driven over a plate disposedslightly above the ground of the yard or in any other suitable situationmay be depressed by the wheels of a car and when d pressed willautomatically light the garage and yard, the structure being further somade that the lights in the garage are kept lighted until the operatorhas turned on" the switch in the house or a switch located in some otherconvenient place.

A further object is to provide mechanism op erated, as before described,by said plate whereby after the owner has turned on the lights in thegarage from the house, these lights will be automatically turned off asthe car is driven out over the operating plate, leaving the automaticswitch in position for the next approaching car.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following descripion.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan View of my lighting system showing in dottedlines a house, a yard and the automatic switch;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View through the automatic switchmechanism;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view through the wheel operatedmechanism taken at right angles to Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of the automatic switch and the lightcircuit.

Referring to the drawing, designates a metal casing, though the casingmight be constructed of any other suitable material and have other thana cylindrical form, which casing is sunk in the ground so that the upperend of the casing is practically level with the ground or floor. Theupper end of this casing is partly closed by a cap 11, the lower end ofthe casing be ing closed by a cap 12 having a downwardly extendingsleeve or nipple l3 closed at its lower end by a cap 14. These parts maybe constructed in any suitable manner and of any suitable materials.

Disposed within the casing 10 and extending longitudinally therethroughis a spindle or rod 15 whose lower end extends into the nipple l3 andwhose upper end extends out through a central opening 16 in the cap 5.The nipple may have 55 within it the Babbitt metal guide 17 for thelower end of the spindle 15. This spindle, as illustrated, is reduced inthickness at the end passing through the guide 17 and the nipple is ofsufficient length as to permit the downward mov ment of the spindle l5.Mounted upon the spindie 15 adjacent its lower end is a set collar 18and between this collar and the lower end 12 of the there is disposedthe compression spring this spring resisting downward movement of rod orspindle l5. Disposed on a level with the ground is a plate 20 which iapproximately oval in shape and apertured at its center or the passageof the spindle 17. This plate is dished upward or concave-convex, theconvex face facing upward. to the cap 11 by rivets or in any othersuitable manner.

Mounted upon the upper face of the spindle i5 is a second plate 21 whichis also transversely concave-convex, as shown, and which is alsosomewhat oval in shape and conforms to the shape of the plate 20.Normally the plate 21 is disposed above the plate 20 but when the wheelsof a car or other vehicle ride up on the plate 21, this plate isdepressed against the plate 20. Mounted upon the upper end of thespindle 15 is a set collar 22 and between this collar and the cap 11 isa leather collar 23, this leather collar acting to prevent water fromgetting into the casing 10. Any other suitable means for this purposemight be used.

Also mounted upon the spindle l5 approximate- 1y midway of the casing 10is a set or adjustable collar 24 and pivotally connected to this collaris the downwardly and laterally extending pawl 25. :1

Extending through the side wall of the casing 10 is a tubular housing 26and disposed within this housing is a shaft 27, the inner end of theshaft carrying upon it the disk 28 provided with a plurality ofoutwardly projecting pins 29 constituting teeth with which the lower endof the pawl is adapted to engage. As illustrated, the lower end of thepawl 25 is recessed so as to engage over one of the pins 29 but, ofcourse, this particular form of the lower end of the pawl may be changedto conform to the character of tooth carried by the disk 28.

The shaft 27 is mounted in bushings 30 carried by the tubular housing 26but any other suitable bearing for the shaft may be provided. The outerend of this shaft 27 and the corresponding end of the housing 26 entersa box or casing 31 which is embedded in the ground or disposed in asuitable well or otherwise mounted below the level of the ground andhaving a housing 32 This plate 20 may be attached a which extends upwardtoward the ground level and opens into a casing 33. Preferably, thehousing 32 simply consists of two pipes of sufiicient diameter as topermit the passage of a sprocket chain. Mounted upon the outer end ofthe shaft 2'7 is the sprocket wheel 34 and mounted within the housing orcasing 33 is a sprocket wheel 35. A sprocket chain 36 extends over thesesprocket wheels. The sprocket wheel 35 is mounted upon a shaft 37 andthis shaft carries upon it a switch comprising a disk 38 of insulatingmaterial having a rim 39 of bronze or like conductive material.

Projecting laterally from one face of the bronze rim 39 is a finger orwiper 40 and contacting with this bronze rim 39 at all times is a springcontact 41 which is connected to the hot wire or live wire leading froma source of current. It will thus be seen that the bronze annulus 39 isat all times connected to a source of current. Disposed parallel to thisdisk is a plate 42 carrying upon it the two contacts 43 and 44, thesebeing somewhat elongated contacts. These contacts are, of course,insulated from the base 42 and these contacts are connected by wires 45and 46 to a yard lamp and garage lamp 4'7 and 48 and to a switch 49respectively. Thus two circuits are provided, one including the yardlamp and the garage lamp 47 and 48 and the other including a source ofcurrent and the switch 49. These two circuits may be closed or openedwithin the house by means of the three-way switch 49.

It will be noted that the disk 28 is provided with four pins 29 and thatthe contacts 43 and 44 are disposed in diametrically opposite positionswith relation to each other but extend circumferentially approximatelythrough a quarter of a circle, and that the contact 41 is disposed at anangle of 90 to the beginning ends of the contacts 43 and 44.

In Figure 4, the vehicle operated switch and the three-way switch 49 areshown in the position they would have with the car out of the garageyard and with all the lights turned off. When the incoming car movesover the plate 21, the front wheel of the car will depress the plate 21and rotate the switch disk 38 through a quarter turn in the direction ofthe arrow Figure 4.

This will carry the contact 40 beneath the contact 44, closing thecircuit from the battery through contact 41, rim 42, contact 40, contact44, wire 46, switch arm 49a through the lamps 4'7 and 48 back to thebattery, energizing the yard and garage lights 4'7 and 48. The rearwheel of the car will again depress the plate 221 but the contact 40 isonly carried further around on contact 44 without breaking the circuit.The car is run into the garage and the driver goes into the house andthrows the three-way switch to the wire 45. This breaks the circuit andall lights are out. When the driver wishes to use the car again, hethrows the switch arm 49a to the full line position in contact with wire46 which again energizes the lamps 4'7 and 48. As he drives out of theyard, the plate 21 is depressed by the front wheels of the car, carryingcontact 40 to a position in engagement with the contact 43. This againswitches 01f the lights and the rear wheel carries contact 40 to theposition shown in Figure 4 ready to again switch on the lights when thecar returns.

If, after one car has moved the switch 38 to a position with contact 40in engagement with contact 44 and lights are turned off at switch 49, asecond car drives in, it will act to rotate disk 38 to carry contact 40beneath contact 43 and as switch arm 49a has been thrown to engage wire45, the second car will again energize the lamps 47 and 48 and theselamps will again be switched off by the driver of the second car when heshifts the arm 49a to the full line position in Figure 4. To open thecircuit entirely and prevent any lighting of the lamps, any suitable orusual switch indicated at 50 may be used.

It will be seen that I have provided a casing 10 which is entirelyclosed at the upper end from the weather and so constructed that snow,ice or the like cannot, under ordinary circumstances, get beneath theplate 21 to prevent its being moved downward under the action of a carand that all the parts enclosed within the casing 10 are fully protectedfrom moisture and accident.

I claim:-

A switch actuating device comprising a vertically disposed casing closedat its upper and lower ends, a vertically movable spindle disposedwithin the casing and extending out through the upper end thereof, anupwardly curved plate resting upon and carried by the upper end of thecasing, a transversely curved tread plate carried on the upper end ofthe spindle and having the same curvature as the first named platewhereby when the tread plate is depressed, its whole surface will restupon the plate beneath and be supported thereby, a pawl mounted upon thespindle and gravitationally depending therefrom, a ratchet disk mountedentirely within the casing, and housed thereby and disposed below and inthe path of movement of the pawl, a spring housed within the casing andurging the spindle upward, and an adjustable collar on the spindlelimiting the upward movement of the spindle, the upper end of the casinghaving a packing surrounding the spindle and against which the collarbears when the spindle is urged upward to thereby pre- 'vent the inletof moisture to the interior of the casing.

ASA B. PARKER.

